DPV & scooters

[Lawrence Debono]

Does any one use DPV's or scooters in the UK? What brands are most popular? I never hear any one from that side talking about them. Comments pro and cons....

Lawrence D

[Mark Chase]

The viz in the UK is generaly not good enough to use them. They are big heavy and very expensive and its dificult to justifie the cost when there is only a handfull of dives each year that justifie their use.

Also:

Skippers do not like them due to hassel weight and space issues.

Getting in the water and finding you have 3m viz meens aborting the dive or bagging up £2000 in the hope the skipper will pick it up.

When you can use them they are fantastic

ATB

Mark Chase

[Lawrence Debono]

Ah, now I get the picture. I know that if the vis is bad it can be boring, but I found that it's great for gas consumption, and it's not the fist time I leave behind me a bad vis area to a clearer spot. Covering 3/4 of a km (one way) isn't uncommon at all. On the other hand it's a bugger for cold water because you don't move too much especially the fingers. I still use mine very often regardless.

Mark as far as bulk - eeeeeh - not any more than a large twin set.

Lawrence D

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Lawrence D @ Mar. 20 2004,02:07)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Mark as far as bulk - eeeeeh - not any more than a large twin set.

Yes but that makes two large heavy items on the boat as its not an either/or option. Some times there is bareley enough room for the twin sets and stages let alown half a dozen scooters.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Narked@50]

I've seen a load of small DPVs on e-bay lately, £150/£300 new, the more expensive one having a better battery. At that price I thought of getting one as a toy but have just not got round to it. I think swimming is half the fun of diving and am not sure this would be any more, possibly less, enjoyable. I can definately see the advantages for those doing long dives where distance or work is the objective e.g. cave penetration, but depth is a limmiting factor also, the cheapies I mentiond are around 20/25M I think.

It would probably just lie in the garage, I'll leave it for now.

James  

[Bob Cooper]

I have a short body Gavin which doesn't get used as much as I'd like, but when it does get used, boy is it fun!

It's difficult to jusify the expense really, especially when there are so few people diving with them over here.

[Angus]

Ron Mahoney offered this info on a pevious post:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]For those thinking (dreaming) about getting a scooter, but not liking the idea of stumping up £2,500+ have you tried an Apollo AV1.

I'm on my third (or fourth?) season with them and for 90% of the diving we do (40-70m) it is ideal. I know they may not be as big and sexy as a Gavin or Zep's but apparently you can get an o-ring that uprates them to 90m (there rated at 60-ish). They certainly pull a diver, back & sidemounts along at a rapid rate on full speed (never use it on this) for a burn time of about 40-50min if thats what you want. We tend to use them on their mid setting that gives about 70-80 min.

However I do know a British company is developing something like the Gavin but it should retail around £1,000. They've been testing the prototype in Dorothea with excellent results.

Just a thought.

[Martyn Ward]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (narkedat50 @ Mar. 20 2004,09:48)]but depth is a limmiting factor also, the cheapies I mentiond are around 20/25M I think.

By coincedence, was looking at some this morning at LDS.

The Scubapro model retails at about £800, not sure about depth rating.

They've recently started selling/hiring "See-doo" models, retail is about £300, depth rating is 30m.

"See-doo" looks decent enough, prop has better shrouding than Scubapro.

All I have to do now is persaude the head of finances to buy two, then we can scooter out to the Breda, tie them to the shotline, do the dive, and scooter back again!

Sounds good to me!!

[Lawrence Debono]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Martyn Ward @ Mar. 20 2004,13:27)]

By coincedence, was looking at some this morning at LDS.

The Scubapro model retails at about £800, not sure about depth rating.

They've recently started selling/hiring "See-doo" models, retail is about £300, depth rating is 30m.

"See-doo" looks decent enough, prop has better shrouding than Scubapro.

All I have to do now is persaude the head of finances to buy two, then we can scooter out to the Breda, tie them to the shotline, do the dive, and scooter back again!

Sounds good to me!!

How are the sea doo's? Can they pull a diver with a dry suit, single and a pony? I always wondered because they look so small. We can get them for $300 USD. Then there would be the rip off from customs at the Canadian border...... But they are still a cheaper option from here.

In the UK you can get the CD dpv, and diverite got theirs out too. Those are similar. Actually to be 100% the DR is made by Farallon. Gavin and Silent submersion are very popular here too. Especially in cave diving and with the dir's. Vector is another beast that's available here
http://humaniforminc.com/

I also heard that in Italy there is a European version of the Gavin for their local DIR's
http://www.suex.it/index_eng.html

I can't complain about mine Farallon 7 - not the fastest but it takes me quite a ways even at depth. The nice thing is that I didn't pay a lot for it either (used) and the company moved to Ontario so that’s easier to get parts. http://www.farallonusa.com/product.html#mk7e

Lawrence D

[Phoenix]

I taught a DPV Specialty course using SeaDoo's a couple of months ago and wasn't very impressed. In anything more than a slight current they struggle to cope with the "larger" (read fat!) diver (me) and the 20m depth limitation is a pain. I also find them considerably noisier than my own DPV's (Apollo AV1).

I understand that SeaDoo are/have bringing out an uprated version with an improved motor, if the price is right this might be a good buy, the standard one is better for snorkeling IMO.

Ian